Metropolitan Area Recreation Advisory Group

Minutes

Online Meeting Wednesday 5 May 2020

1.0 WELCOME

Attendees:

David Bruce – Chair Jenni Hess – Vice-Chair Marissa MacDonald – Secretary

Aaron Morse - Matt Plummer - Rockingham Aalia Visram - Matthew Emmott - Rockingham Adam Lang – Canning Matt Fulton – SportWest Andrea Clark - Rockingham Michael Snart – Belmont Anthony Macri - Swan Nerisa Finau - Wanneroo Carina Whittington - Armadale Nic Daxter – Kalamunda Claire Taylor - Mandurah Nicola Jordan - DLGSC Craig Bartlett - Wanneroo Renae Parks – Melville Dan Barber - Bayswater Sally DeLaCruz – Belmont Dean Burton – Cockburn Salvatore Siciliano – Bassendean Dean Williams – Squash WA Samantha Edwards – Nedlands Glenn Hitch – Squash WA Sam Hegney – Jess Fordham - Wanneroo Sarah Perkins - Gosnells Jessie Burke – Kwinana Susan Butler – Canning Juliana Scilipoti - Subiaco Tim Cronin – Victoria Park Julie-Anne Pettit – Swan Timothy Clark – Armadale Katherine Birch – Vincent Todd Cahoon – Melville Kent Burton - DLGSC Wayne Grimes – Vincent Leith Fradd - PLAWA Wendy Stanley – Armadale

Apologies:

Travis Moore Renee McIntosh Robbie Watkins Susie Moir Honni Jacobs Stephen Handicott Gemma Chandler Simone Pastor Marta Makuch Amanda Allan Mitchell Davies Chloe Nella Karen Balm Tony Giggs Jason Parker

1.1 Welcome from the Chair

David welcomed everyone and provided an Acknowledgement of Country. David acknowledged Squash WA, PLAWA and SportWest. Nominees from MARAG for the PLAWA Awards were acknowledged.

1.2 Confirmation of previous Minutes 25 November 2020

The previous minutes were endorsed as an accurate record. Moved: Leith Fradd Seconded: Jennifer Hess

1.3 Update from Chair and Vice-Chair  At the previous meeting, there was a presentation from Fitness Australia on a proposal. There was limited feedback provided by MARAG members on the proposal and the Chair has decided not to progress with the proposal at this stage.  FootballWest have understood the challenges about engagement with Local Governments and are willing to work with MARAG and Local Governments moving forwards.

2.0 PRESENTATIONS AND UPDATES

2.1 Presentation from Squash WA, President Glenn Hitch

 Glenn provided an overview on the future direction of Squash WA – presented as per Powerpoint slides.  With the old ownership model for Squash, a lot of squash centres were privately owned. As the owners sell, the facilities are converted into residential dwellings. It’s not so much as the sport is declining, but the lack of availability of facilities is declining, thereby impacting numbers. Less places to play = less players.  Squash WA is seeking to find a way they can work with Local Governments regarding investment into squash infrastructure.

2.2 Update from PLAWA, Leith Fradd

 Awards of Excellence – The event will be streamed live on Facebook. Limited tickets available.  PLAWA State Conference – deconstructed conference with 6 streams over 6 dates.  Working group for fees and charges met on 26 February. The group was set up from volunteers from MARAG. Aiming to get the project up and running in next financial year.  Leisure centre fees and charges project – commences in July.  Sport benchmarking project.  Sport and Fitness benchmarking project. Working group to be set up.  Looking at seeking funding for mapping tool community infrastructure. Applications have been submitted to obtain funding.

2.3 Update from SportWest, Matt Fulton

 Matt Fulton has been appointed as new CEO and Rob Thompson retired.  Acknowledgement that LG are the biggest stakeholder in sport.  Discussion regarding governance of sport at Commonwealth level The Australian Sports Commission is the Commonwealth body. AIS, SportAus, Sport Integrity Australia and National Sports Tribunal all interrelate.  SportWest is looking for collaboration instead of competition to drive forward the Strategic Plan objectives. There is a need to work together as an industry to create a stronger voice and be clearer on what we need.  Strategic Priorities for WA Sport – presentation can be made on this.  There has been a lack of ability to articulate the benefits of sport, whereas for road and rail they are easily quantified and funded. DLGSC and SportWest are beginning work on the social return on investment into sport funding. Engaging external third

party to develop a model to demonstrate benefits which will assist with advocacy work etc.

 Acknowledgement that there is a lack of understanding on how resource thin sport organisations are. Need to improve on efficiency and redirect funds where possible. For example, looking at co-location of sport.  Craig at the mentioned that sports are looking for expansion. Local Governments are challenged with managing multi-purpose venues, when everyone has their own agendas. Matt answered - Different sports should be seeing each other as colleagues instead of competitors.  Carina at raised the issue of gender equity. Will there be a push for SSA’s to address gender equity in WA. Answer from Nicola at DLGSC- DLGSC are doing work on this –in 2018 at the National Sport and Recreation Ministerial Forum 40% was set as the national target. State Government committed to 50%. By June 2022 SSA’s are required to have hit their targets and this is directly linked to their funding.

Action: Nicola to provide information to MARAG Secretary to share with MARAG regarding gender equity targets for SSA’s in WA.

Action: MARAG Secretary to set up meeting with SportWest CEO, MARAG Chair and Vice- Chair to discuss SportWest Strategic Priorities for WA and potential workshop/presentation with MARAG.

2.4 Update from DLGSC

Clayton White & Kent Burton  Club Night Lights program $10 million over 4 years. Will run concurrently with CSRFF. Priority on training lighting at strategic locations. Looking for guidance from LG and SSA’s on what some of those strategic locations will be.  CSRFF is now $12 million, an extra $2 million to put towards extra projects and not being used by night lights.  Election commitments: 400 smaller projects, 40 larger projects. DLGSC will be contacting LG’s soon regarding projects.  State Football Centre –Forward works commencing now. Clearing the site. Practical completion by April 2023. Women’s Cup June 2023.

Nicola Jordan  Sport and Recreation Industry Priorities Project – October 2020 DLGSC started research around current priorities. A desktop review was finished December 2020. 17 consistent priorities across both sport and recreation were identified. A survey was conducted. Now testing the feedback from the survey through forums – LG’s are part of the forums. Hope to release priorities by mid-year.  All COVID sport queries can be sent to [email protected]

2.5 Update from WALGA  New Manager and new Executive Manager appointed.  The team has been focusing on providing support to Local Governments impacted by Tropical Cyclone Seroja. WALGA has been seeking Expressions of Interest from Local Government staff to assist these Local Governments over the coming months. Presently, support is required with rates and finance tasks, administration and customer service, rural outreach and a caravan park operator.  In April 2021 WALGA filed a submission in response to the Discussion Paper on child safety officers in Local Government. The proposal for child safety officers in Local Government was a recommendation from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. WALGA’s submission can be viewed here.  WAGA is also hosting an event on Tuesday, 18 May focusing on family and domestic violence.

3.0 REVIEW OF MARAG OBJECTIVES

The Chair discussed achievements of MARAG since first meeting in July 2019, in accordance with the objectives listed in the Terms of Reference (in table below). MARAG was asked the following questions:

3.1 Are there any objectives missing? 3.2 Are there any objectives that should be amended or removed? 3.3 Should MARAG be prioritising any particular objectives? Which ones?

The Chair then discussed with MARAG members the specific objectives (in red) which may need to be reviewed.

Objectives: Achievements / Outcomes a) To maintain an effective Building relationships with SSA’s, communication network between member particularly through COVID-19. organisations regarding sport and recreation issues impacting on the metropolitan area. The MARAG Chair, Vice-Chair and a small working group of MARAG worked with the SSA’s to develop the ‘Agreement on Community Season Crossover Plans for Winter and Summer Sports’.

MARAG also compiled information regarding ground availability in spreadsheet which was shared with SSA’s. b) To provide effective coordination This objective may need to be re-worded. It and delivery of diverse recreational could relate to obtaining accurate data from participation opportunities. SSA’s especially in regards to female participation. It can also relate to working with SSA’s to ensure that they don’t compete with eachother. c) To share information and initiatives, MARAG members regularly email the group where appropriate, with the aim of reducing to request feedback on a range on topics. duplication of effort and fostering WALGA can assist by setting up a Google consistency across the metropolitan area. Group account that will make it easier to share information. d) To assist with sport and recreation MARAG identified that this has crossover strategic planning across the metropolitan with PLAWA. MARAG could look into area. advocating for co-location of sport to improve return on investment. There was also a suggestion that there needs to be a portal where documents, studies and other information can be shared easily. e) To identify and address relevant Football Commission has LG reference sport and recreation issues and group – Simone (Stirling). Jen to circulate – opportunities within the metropolitan area. documents & next meeting date. f) To identify relevant professional Assisted with working group to inform the development and training needs relating to PLAWA Leisure Planners Course. sport and recreation. g) To optimise funding for metropolitan MARAG members provided vital information sport and recreation facilities from State and for WALGA’s State Budget Submission and Federal Governments. State Election Advocacy Campaign to advocate for an increase to CSRFF funding to $25 million. h) To undertake any other sport and Advocacy on the update of the Liveable recreation project that the membership Neighbourhoods. decides is relevant. Shared use agreements – advocacy to Dept of Education. Template of some sort.

The group agreed that a survey of members should be developed to collect further feedback. Once the survey has been collated, a working group can develop a brief strategic document that outlines our vision and purpose. The following members were interested to assist with this:  Wayne Grimes  Carina Whittington  Matthew Emmott

4.0 STRATEGIC BRAINSTORM – REVISED PRIORITIES

The Vice-Chair facilitated the discussion regarding MARAG priorities. The first MARAG meeting in July 2019 resulted in the identification of priorities.

Brainstorm session: 4.1 Are these priorities still applicable? 4.2 Are there new priorities not identified or as a result of COVID-19? 4.3 What are the top 3 priorities that MARAG can pursue? 4.4 Should there be break out groups to focus on different topics? e.g. facilities operations, facility planning, recreation officers, club development etc.

Funding Fees and Charges Funding and sponsorship

Facilities Planning Leases and Licenses Sport seasons & State Sport Associations

Women in Sport Funding (State Election) Professional development opportunities

Sport and Recreation Use of technology Facilities development Facilities

Parks and Reserves Community engagement Service delivery models

Training & development Master Planning Public open space and informal recreation facilities

Priorities for Sport & Rec Seasons, Competition, Club Industry development

Budgets Governance and Risk (Incorporations Act)

The group agreed that most of these priorities were still relevant. A survey of the MARAG group is required to further prioritise.

Action: MARAG Secretary to develop survey to collect feedback on both MARAG objectives and priorities and send this out to MARAG for feedback.

Action: MARAG Secretary to convene working group to discuss results from survey and development of MARAG strategic plan.

The Chair mentioned that if Local Governments wanted to continue the Sport Season Agreement then volunteers are required to continue work on this. MARAG members who may be interested in assisting are:  Callum Warner  Claire Taylor

5.0 GENERAL BUSINESS

Item from City of Armadale, Carina Whittington:

5.1 Expression of Interest (EOI) from members for a small working group to progress Department of Education (DoE) shared sites discussion items including:  Liaison with DoE  Types of agreements/facilities included  Services crossing boundaries  Any conditions – e.g. land only in LG name

Nominations:  Julie-Anne Pettit, .  Matt Plummer or Matthew Emmott, City of Rockingham  Rachael Rowcroft,  Possibly

Action: MARAG Secretary to send out EOI to MARAG and collect nominations. Action: MARAG Secretary to provide names to Carina Whittington to convene first meeting.

Item from :

5.2 Expression of Interest (EOI) from members for small working group to discuss skateparks including:  Graffiti  Maintenance  Community Engagement  Acceptance / Resistance to new facilities  Examples of good practice  Commercial Experts in the Field

Nominations: Katherine Birch, Julie-Anne Pettit, City of Swan

Action: MARAG Secretary to send out EOI to MARAG and collect nominations. Action: MARAG Secretary to provide names to City of Bayswater to convene first meeting & WALGA to be involved with discussions.

Other business raised:

 City of Bayswater - Noranda Netball courts have been upgraded. They are now to Netball Australia standards.  Juliana at Subiaco - Fees and charges – is reviewing their current fees process and are seeking feedback on how other Local Governments charge clubs and how fees are structured. If you have any advice please email Juliana [email protected]

6.0 MEETING CLOSE

Meeting closed 1:33pm

Next meeting Wednesday, 11 August